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The Leather Shield is a shield in Final Fantasy XII that slightly boosts the wearer's physical evade. It is one the weakest shields in the game and basic equipment.

Obtain[]

Original[]

The Leather Shield is the second weakest shield, sold for 600 gil in Rabanastre (after Barheim Passage), Dalmasca Westersand (after the Leviathan; before Treaty-Blade), Barheim Passage (before obtaining Treaty-Blade), Nalbina Fortress, Bhujerba, and Dreadnought Leviathan. It is found in a treasure in Garamsythe Waterway's Southern Sluiceway (always appears as is the Leather Shield without the Diamond Armlet Map 10 Garamsythe Waterway) and very rarely drops from the Dire Rat.

Zodiac[]

The Leather Shield is now the weakest shield in the game since the Escutcheon was removed, and is sold to 300 gil in Rabanastre, Giza Plains' nomad village (dry), Nalbina Fortress and Barheim Passage. It is found as a treasure in Dalmasca Westersand's Shimmering Horizons (60% chance to appear, 40% chance for gil, 50% chance the item treasure is a Leather Shield without the Diamond Armlet equipped). It still very rarely drops from the Dire Rat.

Use[]

The Leather Shield is weak and falls off in usefulness fast.

In the original version, Balthier, Fran, Basch, and Ashe start with the license for it, Shields 1, but anyone can learn it. In the Zodiac versions, Red Battlemage, Knight, and Foebreaker, can equip it, and so it is only useful if Vaan, Balthier or Fran start in any of these roles. Basch and Ashe start with the Shield 1 license needed to equip the Leather Shield, and so they don't need to be on a suitable job to wear it. However, by the time they join permanently, superior shields are available.

Leather Shield can be equipped by characters with one-handed weapons or no weapon in their available hand. The Leather Shield adds to the wearer's physical evasion. Shield Block augments also add +5% to physical evasion per augment purchased. Equipping a shield negates the Brawler augment, even if the character is still attacking bare-handed. Some enemies, especially all the toughest bosses and marks, have Ignore Evasion as a passive ability, which causes their attacks to ignore all blocking and parrying.

The chance to block granted by gloves and shields and Shield Block licenses is checked separately to, and before, the evade from one-handed weapons. If the shield block fails, the game checks for the weapon block, and if that fails, the game checks for parry.[1]

Citations[]

  1. Maltzsan (n.d.) . Final Fantasy XII Game Mechanics FAQ. Neoseeker. Archived from the original on 1st September 2020.
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